Broken Wings & Frozen Tears
by TrigramCyborg
Summary: Five long years have passed since Edward Elric left the military to live a normal life. But with a war on the rise, Alphonse leaves to become a State Alchemist. He could do one of two things: sit back and wait or follow his brother into the thick of things like he did for him. Post Promised Day: Please R
1. Return

**A little bit of speculative fiction for where I think FMA goes after the end of the series (or in Brotherhood's case, after the little bit where Edward and Alphonse go to opposite sides of the world to study (maybe I'll write about that some time later)). I'll try and keep this as true to the story as I can, so bare with me.  
An added note, this is 5 years after The Promised Day. Just for the sake of clarifying. **

* * *

_"Brother and I are going to do much more than that. We want to see just how big the world is..." ~Alphonse Elric_

* * *

_5 years later..._

_"Mom! Hey mom!" There was her smile. He missed it - for a long time now it seemed. "Mom?" It vanished like dust on a breeze. Everything was dark. He was alone._

_"Big... bro-other..." Fear. That voice. He dreaded it. "Want to... play...? Big bro-other...?"_

Eyes snapped open, the air hit him like falling into ice water. He didn't jump to a sit, but he did stare at the ceiling as his pounding heart slowed down. The nightmares never seem to go away, even after so long. Sometimes he forgot that the nightmare was over now. He forgot that his 4 years of searching were over. He forgot that the Fullmetal Alchemist was dead, and he was just Edward Elric.

But it only took a quick glance to his side, seeing Winry still asleep, to remind him that it was over...

He sat up on the bed and swung his legs over the side. His elbows rested against his knees, and his hands combed through his hair. His gaze was fixed to the metal toes on his left foot. Maybe it was wrong of him to say Fullmetal was dead. Maybe just outgrown would be better said for him.

Well, to him the title was dead. He retired from the military just after he completed his quest for Al's body, much to Mustang's surprise and slight dismay. Sure, he kept in touch for a little while, maybe a few weeks. But soon he found himself too busy with his own business, helping Al recover and then getting adjusted to a normal life with no alchemy. There wasn't time for letters at that point. And then he and Al decided to go off on their travels for the next year. The death of Pinako though, had them back home ASAP - though his train was late and he almost missed the funeral service. After things settled down again, he went ahead and formally engaged to Winry and they got married - very humbly though - a couple months later. Before he could even consider writing to anyone in the military (well, he did mention he was going to travel, but never checked for a reply), their first kid came around; Aaron. And right now, Winry was pregnant with a second child.

Just one thing after another. But it wasn't like he minded too much, the chaos made everything a bit easier to handle for him.

Now if that wasn't enough for him in terms of craziness, Alphonse had returned with none other than May Chang, who had gone ahead and grown a few feet since the last time he had seen her, so he could "continue learning alkahestry from her" as Al worded it. He didn't really buy that excuse too much, less so when he walked in a particular "lesson" of his. There was also a surprising presence of Mr. Garfield and Paninya when he got back from the Western World, so there was definitely no time for being bored.

With a sigh, he stood up from the bed and glanced down at Winry, who didn't even stir. His voice was little more than a whisper, as he didn't want to wake her up, "I'll be back soon." Then he went ahead and walked outside to sit on the porch. The cool air was just what he needed after waking up from his nightmares. It let him clear his head enough so he wouldn't dwell on them.

Just a few minutes outside though proved how chilly it was, and he considered heading back inside. As he was getting up from the steps, a blanket came down on his shoulders and he looked up to see Alphonse smile down at him. "I guess some things never change, huh?" Al sat down next to him and drew his own blanket tightly around himself. His golden eyes looked up to the dulling stars and then turned to him. "I guess you still get nightmares."

Ed nodded. "It's stupid, I know. I just..."

"It's okay, brother," Alphonse said with his usual reassuring tone, "I get them too."

Blinking with some surprise, he looked to his younger brother. "Seriously? You never seem to let anything on. Was it like this since you got your body back?"

A curt nod. "Yeah. But things are looking up. For us at least."

"What do you mean?" Ed wondered.

Al sighed, his breath brought made a small cloud just barely visible in the dim light of early morning. "I guess you don't read the news much anymore."

"No need."

"Drachma has been trying to instigate a war a lot these past several months. Apparently it's to avenge their fallen comrades at Briggs Wall."

Confusion struck his face. "Briggs Wall? Right... I guess something violent was done there, or else Father wouldn't have been able to use his country-wide transmutation circle."

"It's getting pretty bad up there, and it sounds like Fuhrer Grumman has been trying everything he can to stop the war that Drachma wants."

"Seems like this country can't get away from war. We fix one thing, but this one comes back to bite us."

"At this rate, there's word of a draft. I don't think it's something the Fuhrer wants, but he might just have to the way this is going."

Ed thought about that for a moment. "Alright. So what's it matter to us anyways? Drafting's random, so we might not even get pulled out. And who knows, maybe the old man will think of something to stop the war before it starts."

Al half sighed and shook his head. "Brother, I don't want to be forced to go against my will. If I enlist, I want it to be on my own accord."

"What are you saying, Al?" His heart was sinking with dread. He knew where his little brother was going with this, he just didn't want to accept that. It couldn't be...

"I'm signing up to become a State Alchemist." Al told him. Yup. There it was. He said it. Nothing he could do now but sit and stare at him. Somehow he found it in himself to feel betrayed. They got through hell, and now his brother wanted to go back into it?

Ed's stare turned to a glare. "You can't be serious. I thought that... what the hell are you...?"

"Brother, please," Al said firmly, "just let me decide this for myself. All those years ago, you joined the military to help us both and fix our mistake. But you can't deny that there are people we came to know very well while we were there; people I don't want to turn a blind eye to when I know there's a possibility they could die. You promised me that you would get my body back. I promised myself that I would stop the people I loved from dying if I could help it."

Not a word came from him when Al paused to hear his complaints. Ed was too shocked to say anything after hearing that.

"So brother, let me keep my promise, like you did." Al continued. "Please."

For a long moment, nothing further was said. Ed sighed heavily and pushed his bangs back. "Well if that's how you feel, then I won't stop you." A smile came to him and he punched his brother's shoulder, much like how he used to to show his support. "But don't think you're going to stop me from standing by your side like you did for me."

Al smiled back and laughed.

A new thought came to mind. "But what about the others... How are we going to tell them?"

"They already know," Al said, and chuckled awkwardly at Ed's irritated look. "In fact, I told everyone else before you... and a lot of them guessed that you'd join in."

"Oh of course they did," Ed groaned, falling into a comically dejected state. "Am I that predictable?"

Still smiling, Al rubbed the back of his neck. "Um... yes..."

* * *

Going over the many documents, a trained eye went through each one. Old habits don't seem to die, or they die hard at least, and that seemed very true in the case of her superior. That man could never keep up with all his paperwork. Still couldn't. She sighed, knowing that with everything settling in the East only to stir up in the North, he's been pretty busy. Actually, she was surprised he slept at all with how chaotic things have been getting in Central as of late.

But then a very specific document came to her attention. An unapproved State Alchemist request. Those things needed to be signed and approved by a man at the rank of Brigadier General or higher. Well considering her superior was a Lieutenant General, it made sense that he could approve it. But he hadn't been at this alchemist's tests, so how would he know?

That answered itself. The name so neatly written on the form was immediately recognized: _Alphonse Elric._

She nudged her superior and handed the document to him with curt "Sir."

He hardly seemed to read it, as his eyes caught sight of the name and he skimmed the rest of it. Putting the paper down, he looked to be considering this news with a bit of interest. "Those boys. I knew they couldn't live quietly for long."

"But still. 5 years. How much do you think they've changed?"

A slight grin. "I'd assume not much, considering they came back. Can you imagine what mess they've gotten into this time to be asking for a State certification again?"

"Maybe they heard about the mess we're in."

"Could be that too." He laughed a little. "Of all the people to get the honor of signing this request off, it's me. Do you think they did this on purpose?"

"Perhaps. So do you plan to approve him?"

"We both know that the Elric brothers are very gifted. Edward was by far one of the more skilled alchemists I've seen. And Alphonse? I know he was just as good, and now probably better. He has his reasons for joining, and if I'm not mistaken, Edward will be right behind him on that. We'd be fools to decline this request."

She frowned. "Still. They're marching right back into hell again. And this time it won't be so simple."

"I'd hardly consider what happened all those years ago as simple." He replied. "But you're right, they probably won't get away with a lot of the things they did when they were younger. And I'm sure it will end up in my hands - again - to deal with them."

"Not like that's a bad thing. You know them better than anyone."

"I knew them better. Who knows, maybe they grew up."

"They grew up quite a bit while we were in charge of them last time. But I doubt they could change that much."

He nodded and went ahead to sign his name. There it was, Alphonse's request had been approved. He was now a State Alchemist.


	2. Reunion

"Uh-huh. Okay, love you too. I'll call you went I get the chance. Bye."

Hanging up the phone in the booth, Edward took a slow breath and stepped out. He had learned some time ago that Brigadier General Maes Hughes died in this telephone booth - killed by Envy when he learned too much. Now he never really could stop blaming himself for his death; how he imagined it went played through his mind sometimes in his nightmares. In fact, he initially had no intention of ever stepping foot in this booth for that reason, but a thought crossed his mind when he was going to call Winry: maybe Hughes would hear him if he called from here. He smiled to himself and glanced up to the sky.

_Well, seems you were right all along. I'm sorry._

Alphonse was leaning against the outside of the booth. "Remember all those years back when 'love you' was the last thing you'd ever say to her?"

Ed raised his brows questioningly. "Yeah, yeah. Don't get smug. We got a little errand to run while we're here."

"Request from Winry?" Al asked.

The elder brother nodded. "You got it. Asked me to put some flowers on Hughes's grave and say hello to Gracia and Elysia for her. We can handle that after we meet up with this Lieutenant General guy."

A soft chuckle. "Right." They started walking again to Central Command. Since it was late fall, the air had taken on a bit of a chill, so both were dressed fairly warmly. Dried leaves would skid across the roads, carried by a biting wind or the displaced air from a passing car. The only warmth today came from the sun, since there was very few clouds in the sky right now. Alphonse soon wondered aloud as they walked, "So who do you think is running around Command now? Do you think we'll see anyone we know?"

Edward thought about that for a moment. "I don't know. I know Lt. Havoc retired a long time ago, so we won't see him. And the Colonel Bastard probably carted his blind ass to the East to settle things down there by now. And if he's gone, then so is Lt. Hawkeye. I don't know what to expect with everyone else - well maybe not Major Armstrong. He's still around, I bet."

Al smirked a little before looking at all the small stores and cafes on the street they were on. Central seemed to pick itself right back up after all that happened. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he would have said that nothing even happened.

As they turned the corner, the screech of tires a few steps behind stopped them. Looking back, they found themselves staring at a very, very familiar face. For a long moment, they stared at each other, and then she quickly got out of the car. "Edward? Alphonse?"

There was no holding back the smile that came to the two boys' faces. "Lt. Ross!"

She smiled back and lightly rubbed the back of her neck. "So I guess the rumors were true, you two _are_ back."

"Yeah, it's been a while, hasn't it," Edward said as he approached. "So I guess you got your position back."

"Right, I was going to find you two at the train station," Ross said, "but I was told that you both left already. It's great seeing you again." As an after thought, when she noticed that Ed was now about as tall as her, she laughed, "And would you look at this, you've grown too! And Alphonse, you seem a lot healthier."

Al nodded. "It took a while, but I'm a lot better off now."

"Well I'm glad," she said kindly. "So you both are going to Central Headquarters? Why not you hop in and I'll drive you over."

How could they refuse an offer like that? Especially when she was the first familiar face they had seen since arriving here. They got in the car and for the next ten minutes she was asking them all sorts of questions about what they've been up to. Even when they arrived and parked, they chattered up the stairs until she had to go and file some reports. That left them to find the Lieutenant General's office.

"Hey, Al, did this guy ever put down a name? Or did he seriously sign his letter to us as 'Lieutenant General'?" Ed asked when he realized that without a name, finding his office would be a lot harder.

Al shook his head. "No, just his rank. But he did leave the room number." He walked on ahead and found the office, and Ed realized that the route they were going was a bit familiar. He traversed these halls a lot while he was a State Alchemist. Al opened the door and Ed followed him inside, where he saw the chair at the desk was turned to the window. Al knocked on the door as he walked inside. "Um, Lieutenant General, sir?"

_Wait a second,_ Ed realized,_ this room smells a bit like cigarette smoke. Is this guy a smoker?_

The chair turned to face them and Ed felt his eyes go wide. "Alphonse, I see you wasted no time getting her-"

"Colonel! What the hell?!" Ed exclaimed, pointing at him. "What are you doing here?"

Mustang slightly turned his head in his direction. "Well if you actually kept in touch, then you would have know that I never left."

Sputtering, Edward tried to think of a retort, but he knew that he was right about that. He walked towards the desk as he said, "But the Portal, Truth took your eyesight and I thought-" when he noticed how the dark eyes were tracking him up to the desk, he smiled at the realization, "-... you're not... your sight's back!"

The older man smirked a little. "You can thank Dr. Marcoh. He had to use the philosopher's stone to return my optical nerves. I guess Alphonse never told you then?"

Ed turned on his heels to face his brother. "You knew?!" Alphonse rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling softly as his brother continued. "You _knew_ he got his sight back all this time, and you didn't think to tell me?!"

"I- uh..." Alphonse laughed a little. "I kinda wanted it to be a surprise."

The door opened behind him and in stepped another familiar face. "Hey, General, I heard some yelling what's..." He looked from Ed to Al, while they both stared at him with mutual surprise, and then he smiled widely. "Holy shit, Chief! You've gotten taller!"

"Lt. Havoc, you too?!" Ed questioned. "Al, did you know about this?"

"No, actually, I didn't." Al said quickly.

Mustang grinned. "And that's my surprise for you two."

Havoc put down papers on the coffee table and ran his hand through his short hair. "If you mean the whole deal with the philosopher's stone, then yeah. That Dr. Marcoh guy fixed my back and I reenlisted as soon as I got my strength back. I heard you two got your bodies back, but it's great to be able to see it myself. So what're you two doing in Central Command? Didn't you leave the military?"

Ed nodded. "I did."

"Alphonse has been approved his request to be a State Alchemist," Mustang explained, standing up. "And Edward, I'm assuming, was probably going to ask me if he can reenlist."

To that, Edward looked at the now Lieutenant General Mustang and said, "You guys too, huh? Everyone seemed to guess that I'd do that."

"Well you're pretty straight forward, Chief," Havoc noted with amusement.

Edward sighed. "Alright, so that's what I planned on doing. I guess that means I got to go through the military academy then?"

Mustang shook his head and passed him a paper off his desk.

Reading it over, with Alphonse looking from over his shoulder, he could feel his jaw drop a little.

"Fuhrer Grumman thought that since you were here before, you could take on your work at the rank you were previously." The General said. "But since you were never formally in the academy, he told me personally to keep an eye on you."

Edward twitched. "Of course he did..."

Alphonse, however, seemed to take that as a good thing. "That's great. Brother, now you won't have to ask. Thank you, General."

Mustang smiled at him and went back to the desk. "You know, I almost didn't do it."

Even Havoc seemed surprised by that. Edward stared for a moment. "Why's that?"

"Because," he started shuffling through papers for something, "I remembered how much extra work I got because of the messes you made." Ed sweat-dropped. "Then of course I was reminded that since you don't have alchemy anymore, that cuts the paperwork concerning you in half." And then he felt a vein pop in his forehead.

"Same old bastard," Ed said with venom leaking in his voice, "I swear, you care more about that paperwork than you do about yourself!"

The older man pulled a letter from the stack. "Here it is. Alphonse, this is to you." He handed the white envelope to said blonde and went ahead to unlock a drawer to pull out the signature State Alchemist's pocket watch. "And here's your watch. I'm sure you know the drill from your brother, so I won't bother with the lecture."

Al was reading the letter, and Ed decided to get back at him for reading over his shoulder. The words were clearly done on a typewriter, unlike when Ed had become a State Alchemist; when it was all hand written. The only bit of hand writing on the paper were two signatures: _Fuhrer Samuel Grumman_ and _Lieutenant General Roy Mustang_. Skimming through the letter, since Alphonse seemed to pick up on fast reading after the past 9 years, Ed tried to find what he really wanted to know. And there it was at the end of the 5 line down.

"'From here on, your State Alchemist title will be _The Soul Alchemist_'," Alphonse read aloud, and smirked to himself. Ed was a bit confused, and assumed it was playing off of the fact that he was trapped in a suit of armor for 4 years. "Hey, General, do you think they mean that by history or my exam?"

Mustang shrugged. "How should I know? I only got a run down on your performance since Grumman's got me doing at least a quarter of his work and I couldn't be there myself."

Edward seemed more than curious. "Wait, what happened at your exam?"

Both grew mischievous grins. "Now now, Edward. You know no one ever says a word about the exams."

"Oh come on..." Ed groaned. "We're all State Alchemists here..."

"Well I'm not." Havoc pointed out, though no one really noticed.

"Actually, you aren't anymore," Mustang pointed out, "you're only a regular Major now."

Well there goes that idea. "You two are really something, aren't you?"

Alphonse and Mustang laughed a little, and Edward sighed very heavily.

Mustang regained his composure pretty quick to get back to business. "As you know, neither of you are children anymore. That said, I'm not going to work up excuses for you not dressing in uniform."

Edward straightened and nodded. "I figured as much."

"Havoc," at the sound of his name, the Lieutenant looked to Mustang, "I know this is grunt work, but would you mind helping them find a fitting uniform?"

The tall blonde shrugged. "I don't mind, General." He was passed a brown bag. "Come on Chief."

* * *

_"Some people don't understand the promises they're making when they make them," I said._

_"Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway." _  
_~ John Green, The Fault in Our Stars_

* * *

Dim light flickered from a meager light bulb in the supply closet, hardly enough to help Edward read the size labels on the shelves of uniforms. This was one of those rooms that he had hardly ever gone into, quite obviously, and he was a bit grateful for that fact. Hunting down his size was proving to be a bit frustrating. Especially when the he would accidentally block his reading light.

But at long last, he found what he was looking for and pulled a pair of the uniform pants off the shelf. He already found the shirt and boots, but finding something for his leg size was a bit... frustrating. He was about the average height of a woman, and finding that length outside the female uniforms had been tricky.

He turned to see Alphonse pulling at the shoulders, as if testing the sleeves; he was already dressed now, his normal clothes left in a neat pile on the bench where Havoc was sitting.

"I guess you're still a little short," Havoc noted with a hit of humor.

Years ago, that comment would have sent him into theatrics. But he felt he was well past acting in such a way. "It is what it is. At least I'm taller than my wife."

Havoc gawked, and almost choked. "Wife? Shit, Chief, you're already married? You're what? Twenty-one?"

"What's so weird about that?" Ed wondered.

The Lieutenant took a breath and smiled to himself. Still clueless. "Nothing. So who's the lucky girl?"

"Winry," Ed answered, stripping his clothes off down to his boxers and black button shirt. He then started pulling up the uniform pants, tucking his shirt in as he got the hem around his waist. "We've been married for two years now."

The smile morphed to a mischivious smirk. "So, can I assume you've done her?"

"Does the fact I have a son answer that?" Ed asked, fixing the fly on the pants.

Havoc gaped.

"What?" The elder brother crossed his arms and sent the smoker a serious look.

Alphonse snickered. "You know, there's another one on the way."

That only seemed to add the oldest man's shock. "Twenty-one, and he's already got himself a family," Havoc said with a meditative tone. He shook himself out of the daze that the news put him in and went on with the conversation. "So you've got a son now? What's the kid's name?"

"Aaron," Ed answered, pulling on the boots and tucking in the pants. "He'll be turning two soon."

Havoc thought about that a moment. "So did you tell Mustang that, Alphonse? Or did you omit that detail?"

"I didn't," Al said.

His chin rested in his palm. "I wonder, are you like how Brigadier General Hughes was with his family?"

Ed didn't have the heart to return that joke. He didn't feel right joking about a dead man. "Maybe a little."

"You're kidding," Al laughed. "You're just like the man. Well, except for that you don't carry as many pictures. Just that one..."

Havoc perked up. "You got a picture? Can I see?"

"Curious much?" Ed said with amusement now, pulling on the uniform shirt. He didn't go immediately to buttoning it, but instead fished in a coat pocket for a pair of photographs and passed them to the curious older man. The first was of his wife and him sitting on the porch with their son in between them; Winry was giving Aaron a peck on the top of his blonde head, and his gold eyes were on her as he tugged on her shirt while Ed was holding his son by the waist to keep him steady. The second was Edward asleep on the couch with his son sleeping on his chest, his legs were extended over the arm and his head was half on a throw pillow.

Havoc smiled. "This is the happiest I've seen you, Chief."

Edward took the pictures back, and put them in the inside his button shirt's breast pocket before buttoning his uniform shirt. "So what about you, Lt. Havoc? Did you finally get a steady relationship?"

"Yeah, Rebecca and I," Havoc answered, "we've been together for a couple years now. And really, I'm hoping that once this whole situation blows over then we can finally settle down." He sat up a little straighter than. "But damn, Chief. It must have been hard picking up and leaving your family like that."

"Winry understood," Ed told him, "she knows I'm here to look after this softy." He rubs his hand roughly over Alphonse's head, who tried to push him off with a laugh. "I know I'm making a big promise saying this, but I'll come out of this alive for her and Aaron, and our baby."

Havoc smiled and stood up from the bench. "Well, Chief, you've made a lot of big promises, and so far you've kept almost every single one. Good luck on this one."


End file.
